March 1 BASH featured speaker Jay Block, Sandoval County Commissioner

Jay C. Block was born and raised in Manchester, NH and grew up with a strong interest to serve at a young age. In 1987 and early 1988 he worked for the Jack Kemp for President campaign during the New Hampshire primary season. In 1989, Jay graduated from high school and decided to serve his country by enlisting in the Air Force Reserve. He then transferred to the Air National Guard in North Dakota while attending college at North Dakota State University where he interned for a US Senator in 1993 and graduated in 1995 with a political science degree and a commission through the Air Force ROTC program.

During Jay’s distinguished 21+ years as an officer, he served in a variety of nuclear policy, maintenance and operational assignments. One of Jay's honors as an ICBM nuclear launch officer was his selection to test launch a Minuteman III ICBM in 2001. Later that year Jay earned a master’s degree in international relations from Troy State University that would help him during later assignments. After the attack on our Nation, Jay felt the need to serve and contribute to the effort during the Global War on Terrorism so he volunteered to go to Afghanistan in 2005-06 serving at Camp Eggers, Kabul, where his biggest impact was volunteering to command and organize numerous humanitarian missions. Jay also had the distinction to command at two different locations where he served as the senior American officer representing our country on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic and at Volkel Air Base in The Netherlands.

Jay retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2016 from Kirtland AFB and he and his family decided to stay in Rio Rancho to settle down with their kids after 12 moves in 21 years.

Due to his vast experience working in nuclear deterrence operations, Jay has begun a career as a consultant with a large science and technology firm in private industry where he is also involved in business development.

In 2016, Jay decided to serve again, this time his community. He ran and won election by defeating the incumbent and has been a leader in Sandoval County as a commissioner representing both Rio Rancho and Corrales pushing pro-business policies like economic development and right to work.

He has been married to his college sweat heart Kelli for almost 23 years and together they have three children, Madison, a recent UNM grad and Tyler and Kennedy who attend Rio Rancho High School.